Date of Award

Spring 2011

Degree Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Women's Studies in Religion, MA

Program

School of Religion

Concentration

Modern Christianity in North America

Advisor/Supervisor/Committee Chair

Helene Slessarev-Jamir

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Claudia Bushman

Dissertation or Thesis Committee Member

Karen Torjesen

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2015 Kate Sargent

Keywords

Evangelical Christianity, Gender, Sexuality, Sex Education, Gender Studies, American Religions

Subject Categories

Christianity | Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies | Religion

Abstract

In this paper I intend to discuss the ways in which sex, sexuality, and the female body are treated in the discourse within the Evangelical movement, particularly with regard to teenaged and young girls. I will focus on the way young women are talked to about sex, and how they are socialized and educated to regard sexuality and gender. I will spend most of my time with the popular literature aimed at young women, analyzing the underlying theology and theory at work. I will extrapolate, through the use of the (admittedly limited) data regarding sexual activity among young Evangelicals, including but not limited to the age of first sex, and the rate of non-penetrative sex acts, the results of the current ethic, and how it is affecting the lives of young women in America. By the end of this paper I hope to be able to suggest an alternative ethic, one that is sex-positive while still leaving open the option to teach abstinent behavior.

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